Heeling

45min long, 40 eur/ 51 usd

No, it is not a boring exercise. Heeling can be lots of fun for both you and your dog if you see and teach it as a trick. This video will lead you through the whole process, from an easy puppy trick to long and enthusiastic heeling with great focus and perfect position.

1. download
The video is 45 min, it's 710 MB, estimated download time on 1.024 Mbps line is 1,5-2 hours.

2. DVD sent by post

in that case, you pay additional 5e for shipping.

And a testimonial from FMBB World Champion 2015: "Hi Silvia, I just want to tell you, that 5 years ago I taught my dog the heeling with your method of teaching it just as a trick. And he is heeling very well. Now we are FMBB World Champion 2015! Best obedience! So thank you for giving me the idea of heeling as a trick. I teach all my dogs that way and its just fun and cool. I enjoy it a lot. You are a good teacher;). THANKS!!! Romy"

146 Comments

I have your heeling DVD and tomorrow we start with training! I was just wondering how long it takes till a dog is good at heeling. I know it depends on the dog but maybe you have some experience and can tell me.

Hello, I have just ordered your heeling DVD and can’t wait to get started with my Min Pin who normally does one lap of sniffing before then focussing on me! I’m also hoping my baby BC will realise that heeling is fun! It all sounds very promising. Nicole.

Silvia I have just started training with this DVD. I was wondering, as my dogs are all 1 year old and older, what size bowl do you start with? My 1 year old will not put his feet on the bowl, he keeps pawing it only. I am clicking for that as I think at least it is a start. I my bowl too big? Or should I use something flatter, like a frisbee to start with?

I think something like that dog food container I was using with my BCs might work? You can also try a flat target first to see if it’s any easier to get front feet on, but I actually find it easier with a higher, bigger, more defined object. Maybe your bowl is too small -- OR he is hesitant to step on because of the material?

I went to a big dish next thinking the same as you, a bit better, but still not doing well. I will try a flat target next I think. He is not a confident dog either, so possible I need to go in small stages with him

Yes, it could be he doesn’t feel comfortable with putting feet on something… Flat target might help and some other feet tricks (like giving a paw, shutting doors and drawers, walking with his feet on your feet etc.) might help with his confidence too.

Hi there, I’m new to all your training but I have your DVDs and am just getting started. The little guy in this video is a novice agility dog and I want to teach him to heel. This video is me trying step 1 from the DVD. As you can see, I never get him to place his 2 front paws on the target. I even tried physically placing them there (which in retrospect I think may have been bad) and also tried luring him. any suggestions?
Thank you..

He is probably just starting with shaping and this is certainly not the easiest trick to start with. The first rule is you need to reward after every click. For jackpots, you still click once and just reward with more treats and more enthusiasm. I also recommend you keep your treats ready in your hand so that you can reward immediately and on the right spot to not break the flow of the thoughts. Keeps sessions much shorter as that and frequency of rewarding much higher by making the task easier and criteria slower. You can also make a task easier by first putting a newspaper on the floor and go for a paw touch first, so clicking for nearing the newspaper, then accidently stepping on it and then building from there, eventually folding it up to make it smaller once he understands it’s about stepping on the newspaper. Once he gets that, you can put it on a verbal cue and then transfer it to other objects, like a perch. Tricks for a great bond DVD has more detailed instructions on how to get started with shaping, so maybe it would be easier to first start with some of that and then go for heeling? They need a pretty good understanding of clicker/shaping to figure out the hind feet movement thing.

I have a schutzhund beginner that I want to improve focus with so your heeling video sounds appropriate. She is a 2 year old malinois. She also does some agility just for fun. I have a younger border collie I want to introduce agility to. Is the “tricks” video the place to start? I live in the U.S. How much do the videos, including “clkclp” (did I spell it correctly?) cost in US dollars. And could you estimate the length of time it will take for the videos to arrive once ordered? I feel priviledges to have been introduced to you. I’m entering the dog training world at an age older than most and need all the help I can get. Thank you in advance.

The DVDs normally take 1 week, max. 10 working days, to get to US. On “training videos” page, all the prices are in usd too, but as the price is fixed in euro, you will only get the exact amount for that day if you enter “XY euros to usd” in Google. For your schutzhund dog, the best videos would be Heeling is juts another trick and also Tricks for a great bond to get started with some fun tricks. For your agility dog, the best videos are Cik&Cap and Ready-Steady-GO! and also Tricks for balance, strength and coordination. Hope that helps! Welcome to dog training world -- it’s a wonderful wonderful world!

Thank you for your response. I discovered your “You-Tube” video “agility in slow motion”. I just love to watch it. I have forwarded it to many friends who are so pleased. I could watch it several times and have. It makes me smile to watch it. Dog training is a wonderful world -- I wish I had known that when I was 25 instead of 55.

I recently purchased and downloaded your Heeling video and soon possibly others. I love the concept of teaching the dog where its hind legs are and how to use them. I compete in Schutzhund and I have recently acquired my next hopefully national level completion GSD. I have decided to try this method of imprinting the heel position since it uses very low stress and it would be fun for a puppy of 11weeks to learn very early on. We are still on the first step of getting on top of the bowl using the clicker method. We train about three times a day in 5-8 minute small sessions. I have done clicker training before and I love it. I like to see a dog open up and use his mind and energy to figure out problems. However, with this new little female I have it seems very different. Before the video I had already introduced her to the clicker (click means reward). Unlike my other dogs who try and offer up behavior for the click she does not seem very interested. I started out clicking and rewarded every time she looked at the bowl, sniffed the bowl etc. She is not a very exuberant pupil. Then we tried luring which went well and we will put our two feet a top the bowl. However, without the use of luring she seems as if the bowl is non-existent and will sit and stare rather than offer up behaviors. I know it takes time and I am aware of that and really am in no hurry but I just want to make sure we are on the right possible track…I will upload a video once I clear more space on my cell phone for it. I am also wondering if I should start training other simple things such as a target stick with the clicker as well to open her up to new ideas or if I should just stick to the bowl for right now. Thanks Nikki and Notti Nola vom Adelhertz

What a cute cute puppy! And yes, as you figured it out already, the best is to introduce some other, easier tricks first to help her see she can make you click&reward by offering action and then come back to this one -- it’s not an easy one at all! Try to avoid the luring as it makes them wait for instructions rather as offer behaviours and instead go for something easier first, clicking for pretty much ANY action at first and then selecting for more. You could as well try to shape backing up, going into the box with all 4 feet, 2on2off and other rear-end awareness tricks as these will definitely help her figure out you’re clicking for the use of hind feet on that bowl as well. Make it extra easy at first so you have something to click and let her figure out the concept -- it gets really fast after that!

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Silvia Trkman is known for bringing every dog, from her first dog on, to the very top of the sport. Her dogs are known for great speed, tight turns, running contacts and long and injury-free careers. Silvia is in agility since 1992 and is

– 3x World Champion (and the only one ever to win it with two different dogs)

– 5x European Open winner, with 4 different dogs (Lo, La, Bu, Le)!!!
– National Championships podium and World Team member with every dog she’s ever had
– National Champion for 22-times (with 5 different dogs of 3 different breeds)

– World Team member for 19-times (mostly with at least two dogs at the time – sometimes four 🙂 )